Valve



G. T. BOLLINGER VALVE Filed March I5, 1924 .M 4 Hr A m Hr Z Patented June 23, 1925.

UNITED STATES GEORGE TMEL BoLLrN-GER, or LOOKPORT, LOUISIANA.

VALVE;

Application'led March 3, 1924. vSerial NOV. 696,642.

To all iliom 'it may concern.'

Be it known that I, GEORGE T. BoLLiNGniz, a citizen of the United States, and a residentof Lockport, in the parish of Lafouijche and State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Valves, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates in general to a valve, and more particularly to a control valve of the type forming the subject-matter of my co-pending application, filed August 9, 1921, Serial No. 490,937, and adapted for use with the steering gear employed on steam boats or the like.

- The object of the invention is to provide a valve of this character which is so constructed and organized as to effectively control the steam or motive iiuid utilized without necessitating elaborate or expensive structure and at the same time providing an extremely durable valve which has all of the advantages and capacities. of the valve forming the subject-matter of my co-pend- ,p

ing application herein above referred to.

Other ob ects and advantages of the invention reside in certain novel Jfeatures of thel construction, combination and arrangevment of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and yparticularly pointed out in the appended claim, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, and

in which: V y

Figure 1 is a view in vertical section, illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention, the section being taken approximately on line 1 1 of Figure 2; and parts being shown in elevation for the sake of illustration Figure 2 on line 2-2 of Figure 1; I

Figure 3 isa similar view, on line 3-3 of Figure 1; and Figure 4 is a fragmentary diagrammatic view, illustrating the manner in which the parts of the valve are organized withthey lpower cylinder and operating parts of the steering gear.

Referring to the sake of illustration is shown the preferred embodiment of the invention, the v numeral 10 designates the steam power cylinder of the steam steering gear of a steam boat or the like. This steering gear may be ofany'desired type and is preferably of is a view in horizontal section, y.

the drawings, 4wherein for;

provided therefor in the bottom wall 22 and through a stuffing box 38 provided around the shot-gun type. .A piston rod 11, which has a piston mounted thereon and operatively arranged withiii the cylinder, operates through a stuffing box or packing gland 13 provided in one of the cylinder heads and is connected at its'outer end to a cross head 14 operating on the guides 15. The entire steam cylinder assembly ,is

mounted on a vframework 16 of suitableV construction.

A' valve, `designated generally at 20, is

`mounted on the framework 16 and includes a cylindrical valve casing or body 21 having a heavy bottom wall 22 which may be cast vor formed integral with the body portion 21. A top'wall 23'is removably secured to ythe valve casing in any suitable manner as by means of bolts and lnuts or the like. Of course suitable packing may be employed between the top wall 23 and the casing if found desirable.,

The bottom wall '22 is formed to constitute a valve seat 24 and is provided with arcuate ockets V25 `which open through the valve seat 24 to the interior of the valve casing.

'Pipes 27 are threaded into openings provided therefore in the peripheral wall Of the valve casing and communicate with the pockets 25 and with the Opposite ends of the. cylinder 10, as shown in Figures 1 land 4. These pipes 27 serve to convey both live and exhaust steamto and from the opposite ends of the cylinder as will be hereinafter more fully described.

. A cross heador piston controlled valve,

designated generally ,at 30, is rotatably mounted within the valve casing 21 and on the valve seat 24. `This valve is'provided with steam inlet ports 31 which-extend entirely therethrough and4 is further provided with exhaust ports 32 which extend entirely through the valve and which y.communicate with circumferentially extending exhaust passages v33 provided on the under side of ythe valve 30 and adapted to communicate with the pockets l25 in all positions of the valve. The valve 30 is also provided with a f central or axial opening 35 in which a valve 'stem 36 is fitted `and secured.

The valve stem 36'extends out through an opening 37 the valve stem 36 in the outer end of the opening in the'bottom wall. lIntermediate its'ends the opening 37 is enlargedy to provide an exhaust cavity 39 which communicates by a passage 40 with an exhaust pipe 4l leading to the atmosphere or to a condenser or the like. The valve stem 36 is hollowed out for a portion of its length to provide an exhaust conduit or pipe 42 which extends up through the valve 30 and which communicates with the exhaust cavityV by means of a series ot openings 43.

A manually controlled valve, designated generally at 45, is arranged Vwithin the valve casing and is superposed on the cross head operated valve 30. The valve 45 is provided with a peripheral steam distributing groeve 46 which extends entirely around the valve and which is in open communication with a steam' supply pipe 47 threaded into the yvalve casing 2l opposite the steam lgrooveV This groove 46 also communi- Cates at all times with steam inlet ports 48 termed in the valve 45 and extending inwardly from the distributing groove 46 and then downwardly through the bottom face ot the valve. The ports 48 are adapted to be alternatively or selectively brought into registration with the inlet ports 31 of the valve 30. A pair of exhaust ports 49 are machined or otherwise formed in the under side of the valve 45. These ports 49 extend obliquely of the valve and communicate with each other centrally of the valve, as clearly shown in Figure 2. rlhe ports 48 and 49 are angularly spaced from each other. rlhe central communicating portions of the ports 49 overlie and are in constant communication with the exhaust pipe or conduit 42 and the end portions of these ports 49 are adapted to be selectively and alternatively brought into communication with the exhaust ports 32 of the valve 30.

By admitting the live steam into the peripheral steam groove 46 its action in the valve assembly is balanced and it does not tend to torce the valve 45 into binding or excessive rictional engagement with the valve 30. Above the groove 46 the valve 45 is provided with a packing ring 50 and obviously a similar packing ring maybe employed below the groove if found desirable. A vvalve stem 52 is integrally formed with or suitably secured to the valve 45 and extends exteriorly of the casing 30 and has connected thereto an operating arm 53 controlled by anysuitable form of controlling device. i

In order to maintain the valves 45 and 30 in proper relation while permitting relative rotary movement ot the valves the upper end of the valve 45 is formed with an annular groove 54 having an annular ledge 55 around the circumference or periphery of its bottom wall. An annular spring plate 56 constructed of spring sheet steel or other resilient metal is fitted on the valve stem 52 and has its peripheral portion resting on the ledge 55. A thrust bearing` designated generally at 57 is also fit-ted on the valve stem 52 above the spring plate 56. This thrust bearing 57 preferably includes annular retaining members 58 having ball races for the ball bearings 59 and the lower retaining member directly engages the inner peripheral portion of the annular spring plate 56. An externally threaded bushing 60 is provided and has threaded engagement with an internally threaded opening 6l provided in the movable top plate 23 of the Vvalve casing. This bushing 60 is fitted yon thel valve stem 62 in the valve assembly and its lower end engages the upper retaining member 58 of the thrust bearing. A nut 62 and lock nut v63 are provided for holding the bushing in adjusted position. A stuffing box 64 is provided between the upper end of the bushing and the valve stem 52.

rlhe lower end of the valve stem 36 which projects beyond the stuiiing box 38 is provided with a laterally extending operating arm 65V which is pivotally connected at its outer end to one end of a connecting rod 66, the opposite end of which is pivotally secured, as at 67 to a link 68 intermediate the ends of the link. The link 68 has one end pivotally connected, as at 69, to the apex of a V-shaped bracket 70 mounted on the trame 46. A rod or arm 71 iixed to and carried with the crosshead 14 is pivotally connected, as at 72, tothe end of the link 68 opposite the connection ofthis link t0 the bracket 70. In this manner the motion of the cross head, which corresponds to the motion of the piston in the power or steam cylinder 10, is transmitted reduced to the operating arm 65 of the valve stem 36 and consequently this motion is transmitted to the valve 30 to rotate the same on its seat 24 and relative to the valve 45.

In operation when the lever 53 is shifted, the valve 45 is moved to bring onev of the steam ports 48 into registration with one of i its steam ports 48 int-o registration with one of the steam ports 3l oi the valve 30, the other steam port 48 of the valve 45 being out of registration with the other steam port 3l of thevalve 30. The exhaust port 49 on the sameV line ot' the valve 48 as the registering steam ports 48 and 3l is at such time out of registration with the exhaust port 32 of the valve 30 with which it is Vcooperable whereas the port 49 on the opposite side of the valve 45 from the register ing steam ports 48 and 3l is brought into registry with its exhaust port 32 of the valve 30. This permits the live steam to. flow from the steam inlet pipe 47, distributing grooves 46, registering ports 48 and 3l, pocket 25 and pipe 27 to one end of the power cylinder. From the other end of the power cylinder the steam exhausts through the other pipe 27 the other pocket 25, exhaust passage 33, registering exhaust llO port 32 and 49, exhaust pipe 42, openings 43, cavity 39, passage 40 and pipe 41 to the condenser or atmosphere. The admission of live steam on one side of the piston and the exhaust on the other side of the piston causes the piston to move to actuate the steering gear as desired. As the piston moves the cross head 14 rotates the valve 30 through the reduced motion mechanism and thuskmoves the steam inlet ports and exhaust ports o-ut of registration and shuts olf the admission of steam and thereby stopi ping the travel of the piston. If further piston travel is needed to complete the necessary steering action, the manually operated valve is shifted still further to again bring the steam and exhaust ports into registration as above described In this manner the rudders remain in any position in Which they stop Without the aid of brakes because if any pressure tends to move the rudders, the resulting travel of the cross head eii'ects automatically a. corresponding movement of the valve 30 to bring about equalization of pressure on the opposite .of

60 constitutes a thrust bearing for varying the effect of the thrust bearing.

I claim:

A valve for use With steam steering gear comprising a casing, a cross head operated valve arranged Within the casing, ally operated valve arranged Within the casingv and superposed on said cross head operated valve and means for resiliently holding the manually operated valve against the cross head operating valve While per mitting relative rotary movement of the valves, said means comprising a spring plate, the manually operated valve having an annular ledge on which the peripheral portion of the spring plate rests, a thrust bearing mounted on the spring plate and a bushing having threaded engagement With the valve casing and engaging the thrust bearing at one end. a l

GEORGE TMEL BOLLINGER. 

